Environmental education reaches schools

In Goiânia (GO), an environmental education program is being implemented in public schools, with the goal of training educators in organic composting and in the manufacture of low cost composites. It is the School Waste Zero, a project that aims to promote the zero-waste culture in the school environment and break the paradigm of consumerism and waste, through pedagogical actions focused on the National Policy on Environmental Education and National Policy on Solid Waste. The program includes workshops on waste management and composting, which are the basis of knowledge for gardening in the school itself.

The project guides the school about the environmentally sound final destination of the waste it produces and what it can do to take advantage of much of that material to its benefit. “Through this learning, the school creates the conditions to be sustainable, taking advantage of what in principle tends to be a problem, which are solid waste,” says environmental engineer Camila do Carmo, project manager of Sociedade Residuos Zero. The waste generated in the school is destined to the composts and the recyclables go to the cooperatives of pickers, which, according to her, is a way to promote social inclusion, work and income from the environmental preservation, being this one of the objectives of the Waste School Zero.

The initiative is the Zero Residue Society (SRZero) and Society for Integration and Community Action (Oscip Vida Melhor), in partnership with the municipal and state education secretariats and support from the Goiás Public Prosecutor’s Office. – Succeeded by another pilot project, launched in 2016, Residência Zero, winner of four awards, among them the 15th CREA Goiás Environment Award, in the Sustainable Society category.

The implementation steps, the composting manual and the 7 steps for a zero residue residence are on the site: escolariduozero.com.br.